Designed to offer current news pertaining to all branches of the military and government, this database offers a thorough collection of periodicals, academic journals and other content pertinent to the increasing needs of these sites.

Pick your research topic here! Select from more than 200 topics and get overview, pro and con, and critical analysis essays to start you out right. Also includes scholarly and popular journal articles, book chapters, biographies, images, sound files and videos.

Business, justice studies, technology and design, and allied health disciplines are all covered in this database of databases! Highlights include access to HOOVERS business content, the Wall Street Journal, and the New York Times.

Over 2,500 journal titles focused on the interdisciplinary aspects of worldwide behavioral and social science research and literature. Includes dissertation abstracts, publications from more than 50 countries, and APA selected, peer-reviewed content.

This comprehensive research database contains articles that cover topics from criminology and criminal justice, ethnic, racial, and gender studies, marriage and family, social development, social psychology, social structure, social work, substance abuse and other addictions, violence and more.

The Bureau of Justice Statistics' mission is to collect, analyze, publish, and disseminate information on crime, criminal offenders, victims of crime, and the operation of justice systems at all levels of government. These data are critical to federal, state, and local policymakers in combating crime and ensuring that justice is both efficient and evenhanded.

Resources curated by the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (NACJD) facilitates research in criminal justice and criminology, through the preservation, enhancement, and sharing of computerized data resources; through the production of original research based on archived data; and through specialized training workshops in quantitative analysis of crime and justice data.

One of two main measures of crime in the United States, the NCVS is a national survey of approximately 49,000 to 77,400 households twice a year in the United States, on the frequency of crime victimization, as well as characteristics and consequences of victimization.

The Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) is one of two primary measures of crime in the nation. The program was conceived in 1929 by the International Association of Chiefs of Police to meet the need for reliable uniform crime statistics for the nation.

Counseling and Therapy in Video provides faculty and students with a first-hand look at the realities of working with clients and the challenges associated with putting theoretical concepts into practice. These collection provide a thorough grounding in dozens of therapeutic methods and diagnoses, insight into the human condition, and training in skills such as reflection and empathy while working with specific populations such as veterans and teens.

Business, justice studies, technology and design, and allied health disciplines are all covered in this database of databases! Highlights include access to HOOVERS business content, the Wall Street Journal, and the New York Times.

Watch the video below to learn how to search for video content in ProQuest Central.

he Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office) is the component within the U.S. Department of Justice dedicated to the concept that trust and mutual respect between police and the communities they serve is critical to public safety.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons mission is to ensure that federal offenders serve their sentences of imprisonment in facilities that are safe, humane, cost-efficient, and appropriately secure, and provide reentry programming to ensure their successful return to the community.

The National Institute of Justice is dedicated to improving knowledge and understanding of crime and justice issues through science. NIJ provides objective and independent knowledge and tools to reduce crime and promote justice, particularly at the state and local levels.

The U.S. Department of Justice's mission is to enforce the law and defend the interests of the United States according to the law; to ensure public safety against threats foreign and domestic; to provide federal leadership in preventing and controlling crime; to seek just punishment for those guilty of unlawful behavior; and to ensure fair and impartial administration of justice for all Americans.

The purpose of CALEA’s Accreditation Programs is to improve the delivery of public safety services by maintaining a body of standards covering a wide range of up-to-date public safety initiatives,establishing and administering an accreditation process, and recognizing professional excellence.

he Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office) is the component within the U.S. Department of Justice dedicated to the concept that trust and mutual respect between police and the communities they serve is critical to public safety.

The IACP advances professional police services; promotes enhanced administrative, technical, and operational police practices; fosters cooperation and the exchange of information and experience among police leaders and police organizations of recognized professional and technical standing throughout the world.

The National Institute of Justice is dedicated to improving knowledge and understanding of crime and justice issues through science. NIJ provides objective and independent knowledge and tools to reduce crime and promote justice, particularly at the state and local levels.

The Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) is a police research and policy organization and a provider of management services, technical assistance, and executive-level education to support law enforcement agencies.

The U.S. Department of Justice's mission is to enforce the law and defend the interests of the United States according to the law; to ensure public safety against threats foreign and domestic; to provide federal leadership in preventing and controlling crime; to seek just punishment for those guilty of unlawful behavior; and to ensure fair and impartial administration of justice for all Americans.

Utilizing Phrases or Fields, in addition to an awareness of Stop Words, can focus your search and retrieve more useful results.

Have questions? Connect with a Librarian through the Library Live Chat for assistance.

Boolean Operators connect keywords or concepts logically to retrieve relevant articles, books, and other resources. There are three Boolean Operators:

AND

OR

NOT

Using AND

Narrows search results

Connects two or more keywords/concepts

All keywords/concepts connected with "and" must be in an article or resource to appear in the search results list

Example: The result list will include resources that include both keywords -- "distracted driving" and "texting" -- in the same article or resource, represented in the shaded area where the circles intersect (area shaded in purple).

Using OR

Broadens search results ("OR means more!")

Connects two or more synonyms or related keywords/concepts

Resources appearing in the results list will include any of the terms connected with the OR connector

Example: The result list will include resources that include the keyword "texting" OR the keyword "cell phone" (entire area shaded in blue); either is acceptable.

Using NOT

Excludes keywords or concepts from the search

Narrows results by removing resources that contain the keyword or term connect with the NOT connector

Use sparingly

Example: The result list will include all resources that includes the term "car" (green area) but will exclude any resource that includes the term "motorcycle" (purple area) even though the term car may be present in the resource.

A library database searches for keywords throughout the entire resource record including the full-text of the resource, subject headings, tags, bibliographic information, etc.

Keywords:

Natural language words or short phrases that describe a concept or idea

Can retrieve too few or irrelevant results due to full-text searching (What words would an author use to write about this topic?)

Provide flexibility in a search

Must consider synonyms or related terms to improve search results

TIP: Build a Keyword List

Example: The keyword list above was developed to find resources that discuss how texting while driving results in accidents. Notice that there are synonyms (texting and "text messaging"), related terms ("cell phones" and texting), and spelling variations ("cell phone" and cellphone). Using keywords when searching full-text requires consideration of various words that express an idea or concept.

Example 1: In EBSCO's Academic Search Complete, clicking on the "Subject Terms" tab provides access to the entire subject heading list used in the database. It also allows a search for specific subject terms.

Example 2: A subject term can be incorporated into a keyword search by clicking on the down arrow next to "Select a Field" and selecting "Subject Terms" from the dropdown list. Also, notice how subject headings are listed below the title of the resource providing another strategy for discovering subject headings used in the database.

When a search term is more than one word, enclose the phrase in quotation marks to retrieve more precise and accurate results. Using quotation marks around a term will search it as a "chunk," searching for those particular words together in that order within the text of a resource.

Examples:

"cell phone"

"distracted driving"

"car accident"

TIP: In some databases, neglecting to enclose phrases in quotation marks will insert the AND Boolean connector between each word resulting in unintended search results.

Truncationprovides an option to search for a root of a keyword in order to retrieve resources that include variations of that word. This feature can be used to broaden search results, although some results may not be relevant. To truncate a keyword, type an asterisk (*) following the root of the word.

In both the EBSCO and ProQuest databases, the limiting tools are located in the left panel of the results page.

EBSCO ProQuest

The short video below provides a demonstration of how to use limiters to refine a list of search results.

Each resource in a library database is stored in a record. In addition to the full-text of the resources, searchable Fields are attached that typically include:

Author

Title

Journal title

Date of Publication

Abstract

Subject Headings

Publisher

Incorporating Fields into your search can assist in focusing and refining search results by limiting the results to those resources that include specific information in a particular field.

In both EBSCO and ProQuest databases, selecting the Advanced Search option will allow Fields to be included in a search.

For example, in the Advanced Search option in EBSCO's Academic Search Complete database, clicking on the down arrow next to "Select a Field" provides a list of fields that can be searched within that database. Select the field and enter the information in the text box to the left to use this feature.

Stop words are short, commonly used words--articles, prepositions, and pronouns-- that are automatically dropped from a search. Typical stop words include:

a

an

and

the

also

but

for

in

is

of

so

which

when

was

In library databases, a stop word will not be searched even if it is included in a phrase enclosed in quotation marks. In some instances, a word will be substituted for the stop word to allow for the other words in the phrase to be searched in proximity to one another within the text of the resource.

For example, if you searched company of America, your result list will include these variatons:

company in America

company of America

company for America

This short video demonstrates how to create a search string -- keywords connected with Boolean operators -- to use in a library database search to retrieve relevant resources for any research assignment.